IAAF attacks London’s ‘big lie’ over Olympics

International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF) chief Lamine Diack has accused London of telling a “big lie” over its plans for the Olympic Stadium.

Two rival bids are presently being considered for the stadium, with Premier League clubs West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur both looking to take possession of the venue after the Games.

Tottenham would, however, almost completely rebuild the stadium to accommodate football. This would see the athletics track removed, provoking outrage from the IAAF.

Warning Britain’s reputation would be ruined if the track were removed, Diack told BBC Sport: “There would be no way to come back as far as my generation is concerned.

“You can consider you are dead. You are finished.”

The rival bid from West Ham would see the athletics track kept in place.

Diack, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), went on to suggest if the athletics track was scrapped Britain’s chances of hosting future events would be severely compromised.

Diack had led the international athletics body since 1999.

He insisted London must keep the promises they made to the IOC when they won the 2012 bid in Singapore and retain the track.

“This nation has a number of heroes in athletics,” he explained.

“I could spend an hour, listing one by one all those who’ve achieved fantastic things in athletics.

“They are still there, involved. And this country, this city saying that I’m not able to have a stadium of athletics?”

Tottenham have pledged to redevelop Crystal Palace athletics stadium as part of their proposals, bringing the venue up to international standards.

However, the venue has previously been hamstrung by poor transport connections.

The future of the Olympic Stadium remains uncertain

World Mobi

Also in Europe today, World Mobi is celebrating the success of its new city guide to London.

World Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the World Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

Eric Schmidt hands over Google reins to Larry Page

Share On:

Comments

Recommended for you

Related Event

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games kicked off in London, United Kingdom on 27 July and close on 12 August 2012. London became the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.